Concrete Footings in Temple TX - A solid base planned for the clay under your house
Planning an addition, or seeing cracks that point to a settling wall? We dig and pour footings sized for your soil and what they carry.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free estimates at your property.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What goes into concrete footings in Temple, and what sets the price?
Concrete footings in Temple, TX are the band of concrete, usually a continuous strip, that carries the walls of a house, addition or porch, and A&L Temple Concrete Construction digs, reinforces and pours them to suit your soil and the weight they hold.
Most footing calls I get come from people adding a room, a porch or a garage, or building a slab foundation for new work, and some come from people whose old footings have moved. The price follows the size of the footing, how deep and wide your soil says it has to go, and how easy it is to get equipment to the spot. The schedule turns on the soil report, the forecast and the cure, which is the stretch when fresh concrete is kept moist while it hardens and gains strength. Your own figure comes in the written quote I send after walking the job.
How do you know your house needs new or better footings?
Cracks running up brick
Stair-step cracks in brick, or drywall cracks off the corner of a door, usually mean a footing below has moved. If you wait, the cracks tend to widen, and a footing repair can turn into lifting part of the house.
Doors and windows sticking
When a door that closed fine last year starts rubbing, the frame has usually gone out of square because one side of the house is settling or rising. Left alone, it spreads to other doors and windows on that side.
Porch pulling away
A gap opening between a porch or steps and the wall of the house usually means they sit on shallow footings or none at all. Water gets into that gap, and the porch keeps leaning out the longer it goes.
Planning an addition or deck
This isn't a problem yet, but it's the time to get footings right, before anything is framed on top. Fixing a footing after the walls are up costs far more than digging it properly the first time.
How we build concrete footings
Before anyone digs, I ask for a soil report or suggest you get one, because it tells us how deep and wide your footings need to go. Then we mark out the lines, dig to that depth and width, and set rebar, the steel bars that keep the concrete holding together when the ground pushes on it. We pour, and on summer jobs we keep the concrete wet while it cures and don't add water at the truck just to make it easier to place, because extra water makes for weaker concrete. If a quote comes in lower somewhere, it's usually the dig, since it's buried by the time anyone looks, and that's the last place I'd cut.
Footings often come with other work. If an addition has to tie in where a patio or driveway already sits, we use concrete cutting to open a clean slot instead of breaking it out by hand. If your house has already settled on old footings, foundation raising is usually the first step before anything new is built against it.
Continuous strip footings
A band of concrete under the full length of a wall suits additions, garages and load-bearing walls, because it spreads the weight along the whole line instead of a few points.
Pad footings for posts
A square block under each post or column suits decks, porches and carports, where the weight comes straight down at single spots rather than along a wall.
Footings beside existing work
New footings next to an old foundation suit additions and repairs, and they take extra care where old and new meet, because the two can move differently on clay.
Get a written quote for your footings
We respond within 1 business day. Estimates are free and done at your property, with no pressure to book. I walk the job with you, then send a written quote.
(254) 791-8043- Based in
- Temple, TX 76501
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 7 AM–9 PM, Sat–Sun: 6 AM–9 PM
What happens after you call us about footings in Temple?
Here's how a footing job runs from your first call to the cleanup, and what you'll have in hand before you decide anything.
Call or send the form
Call (254) 791-8043 or send the form with the kind of project, the lot address and any soil report you already have. That lets me show up with the right questions.
I walk your lot
I look over the site and ask about drainage, trees and what the footings have to carry, from a wall to a deck post. Then I send a written quote that lists what's included and what isn't, so you know exactly what the price covers.
We set the pour date
Once you say go and the office check covered below is done, we pick a pour date with the forecast in mind. Heat, wind and rain all change when concrete should go in, so the date follows the weather.
Dig, pour and clean up
I'm on site with our crew through the dig, the pour and the cleanup. We haul off the spoil, the dirt that comes out of the trench, before we leave.
Why Temple homeowners call A&L Temple Concrete Construction for footings
I write the quote myself
I'm the one who comes out, walks the lot and writes your quote, and I'm on site with our crew for the forming, pouring and finishing. You talk to the same person from the first visit to the last load hauled off.
Licensed and insured on every job
We're fully licensed and insured, which is the first thing to ask any crew digging next to your house. Our work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
A quote that shows the dig
Our written quote spells out how deep and wide we're digging and why, along with what's left out. On Temple clay that's usually where footing quotes differ most, so you can set ours next to anyone else's and see the difference.
In business since 2023
I started this business in 2023 after years running a landscaping company beside concrete crews and a few seasons working on a crew myself. That taught me the work under the concrete decides how it holds up, so that's where we spend our time.
Ask about the dig before you sign anything, ours included. Call us or send the form and I'll come walk your lot.
Footings and foundation work on Temple clay
The Blackland Prairie runs from north of Dallas down to San Antonio and takes in our part of Texas, and much of it is a dark clay called Houston Black that shrinks and swells hard as its moisture changes. In dry spells it opens cracks from the top down that stay open for part of most years, and water runs into those cracks fast but soaks into wet clay slowly, so one side of a house can see a lot more movement than the other. We can't know what your lot holds until the report is in and the ground is open, which is why the depth on our quote follows the soil study, and we plan footings the same way on jobs in Belton and Salado.
Local rules are the other piece. Texas guidance says local codes can ask more than state engineering law does, so Temple's own rules may go further. Before work starts, we check with the city or county office for your address and tell you what we learn, and if the job needs a permit, we handle the application with that office before we begin. We're based in Temple and work across Bell County and the cities around it, up toward Waco and down toward Georgetown.
Questions about concrete footings in Temple
How much do concrete footings cost in Temple, TX?
Installed concrete footings across the US usually run about $5 to $20 per linear foot, and that covers the concrete, the labor and the digging. Where yours lands depends mostly on size, and a wider, deeper footing on weak soil can cost several times as much as a shallow one. Your written quote will show the depth and width behind the number.
What causes concrete footings to crack on clay soil?
Swelling clay can lift and crack lightly loaded strip footings, and it often damages the floor slab along with them. One engineering paper calls footings that reach below the layer where the soil's moisture rises and falls the best way to prevent that damage. Concrete still gets a few small cracks as it ages, and I'd rather tell you that now than have you find one and worry.
What does a soil report tell you before pouring footings?
A soil report measures how much your soil can swell and how much weight it can carry, and it recommends a foundation type for the lot. That's according to one Texas engineering firm, and it's why the report guides what kind of footing goes in. If you already have one from buying or building, send it with your request.
What is the best time to pour concrete footings in a Texas summer?
Industry guidance says to pour when the weather is favorable, day or night, and to keep the concrete moist while it's placed and cured. Heat trouble can show up in any season but mostly comes in summer, and wind makes high heat and dry air harder on fresh concrete. Fresh concrete also wants more water in hot weather, and adding water to meet that can lower its strength, so ask any crew how they'll handle a summer pour without it.
Does a home slab in Texas need a licensed engineer?
A builder who offers no engineering services can work on a private home without an engineer's license, but Texas law doesn't stretch that exemption to engineering design for a home slab on expansive soil, unless the work meets the residential code as your local area applies it. That rule is written about slabs, and the sources leave open which footing jobs it reaches. The state engineering board's guidance is where to check how it reads for yours.
How do I keep my foundation from shifting after the footings are poured?
Keep the soil moisture even next to and under the foundation, which one guide calls the single best way to limit damage from swelling and shrinking soil. The same guide suggests checking the ground within 5 feet of every side once a year after a rain, to see that water still drains away. A gutter dumping at one corner or a bed that stays soaked on one side is the usual thing to fix.
Related concrete work for footing jobs
Concrete cutting
When a new footing has to run under an existing patio, walk or driveway, a clean saw cut opens the spot without cracking the slab you're keeping.
Foundation raising
If floors slope, doors jam or brick has split because old footings sank, lifting the house back toward level comes before any new footing work ties in.
Cities where we pour concrete footings
A&L Temple Concrete Construction is based in Temple, TX, and the 12 cities below have their own page here, including Harker Heights and Georgetown. If your city isn't on the list, give us a call and ask.
Temple, TX
Book a footing walk-through at your lot
If you already have a soil report or plans, send them along, because I can read them before the visit and spend our time on site looking at what matters.